Bridging the Know-Do Gap Using Integrated Knowledge Translation and Qualitative Inquiry: A Narrative Review

The research-practice gap is an ongoing concern for sport and exercise science researchers. Despite ongoing efforts to ‘bridge’ the gap between research and practice, a know-do gap remains. Drawing from alternative fields of research (e.g., healthcare, implementation science), the purpose of this article is to outline an emerging research approach to maximise research uptake in practice. Specifically, this article explains the what, why, and how of integrated knowledge translation (iKT), and how this approach to research is well suited to qualitative researchers. Challenging the traditional way academics have conducted research, iKT proposes that researchers work with and not on those in practice settings. As an approach to research under which many forms of qualitative inquiry can fall, the article illustrates how the practical nature of iKT aligns with what qualitative researchers from various traditions do in action. We discuss how iKT possesses three synergies with qualitative inquiry: meaningful researcher engagement, understanding context, and tolerating flexible research designs.